


Furious Friendship

by supergirrl



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5501015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supergirrl/pseuds/supergirrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While escorting one of her favorite residents on a date, Furiosa finds herself in an awkward situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Furious Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Mad Max Christmas fic exchange. Enjoy!

Not for the first time, Furiosa wished that Citadel College gave out some sort of award to RAs who went above and beyond in their duties. If she hadn’t earned it through countless hours of letting hysterical underclassmen weep on her shoulder and organizing kickass weekly activities for her floor, giving up her Friday night to escort a resident on a date would surely merit a prize.

Admittedly, Furiosa’s relationship with Capable Greene and her foster sisters was far from conventional. She had been the only one who believed them when they accused the university president of sexual harassment, and helped them fight the administration to get Joe Moore fired. During their legal battle, Furiosa and the Greene sisters had become close friends, so Furiosa was happy when Capable told her that she was going on her first date in years.

Then Capable dropped a bomb and asked if Furiosa would be willing to accompany her on the date. Even though Capable reassured her that her date was ‘so, so sweet’, she still didn’t feel comfortable being alone with a man. And none of her sisters were available, with Angharad studying abroad halfway across the world in London, Cheedo performing at an out-of-town choir concert, Toast traveling to a conference, and Dag working her shift at the animal shelter, so the duty of escorting her fell to Furiosa.

And so, Furiosa found herself standing in the middle of the quad with Capable, surrounded by clusters of chattering undergrads sprawled out on the grass. She glanced at Capable, who was craning her neck looking for her date.

“What movie are they showing tonight anyway?”

“Pacific Rim, I think.”

Furiosa wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Ugh, really? Isn’t that some cheesy Michael Bay rip-off with giant robots fighting aliens?”

“It’s not like that! Well, that is the general plot, but the cinematography is wonderful and two of the main characters are people of color, so you might like it. Oh, look, there he is!” Capable grabbed her hand and wove through the crowd, leading Furiosa towards a tall, lean man with a shaved head. He beamed when he saw Capable, exclaiming how beautiful she looked, and she flushed to the roots of her copper hair.

For a long, awkward moment they made puppy dog eyes at each other before the date finally noticed Furiosa, “You must be Furiosa! I’m Nux, and this is my housemate Max.”

He gestured to a burly man standing behind him, who was trying-and failing-to look inconspicuous.

She recognized him instantly, and rage flooded through her as she snarled, “I know who he is, what the hell is he doing here?”

Bewildered, Nux tore his gaze from Capable to glance at Max. “I forgot to grab a blanket, so I texted Max to bring one, and then I asked him to stay so you wouldn’t feel like a third wheel! What, have you met before?”

Capable gave Furiosa’s hand a warning squeeze. “He lived on Furiosa’s floor with me and my sisters last year, didn’t you, Max? It’s nice to see you, you’re hardly ever around now that you live off-campus. Oooh, look, the movie’s about to start! We’d better get settled.”

She let go of Furiosa to unfold her own blanket on the ground, and although Furiosa tried to maneuver herself onto Capable’s blanket, somehow she found herself sitting on Max’s oil-stained blanket. She perched on the edge of the blanket, sitting as far from him as possible, and stared resolutely at the screen set up on top of the hill.  

Max Rockatansky was perhaps Furiosa’s only failure as an RA. It wasn’t that his behavior was bad-he was actually more polite and quieter than most of her male residents-but a few weeks into the fall semester, his suitemate had informed her that Max was keeping a dog in his single room. Furiosa was willing to overlook a secret hamster or fish tank, but a dog was too much. If Resident Director Ace found out that she was letting students keep pets in their rooms, she would undoubtedly lose her position. So she’d inspected the room from top to bottom, and found nothing.

She would have been willing to chalk up Morsov’s report to a roommate squabble if it weren’t for the fact that she occasionally heard dog-like noises coming from the room. Yet every time she got permission to search the room, it was dog-free. This frustrating process had continued for the rest of the semester, until Ace called her into his office to tell her that she needed to give it up, that there clearly was no dog, and that she was embarrassing herself. To make matters worse, that little shit Morsov had started a rumor that she had some kind of creepy-one sided crush on Max and was using the imaginary dog as an excuse to search his room. In a moment of weakness, she had confessed to Capable that she actually did find Max attractive, but of course she could never get involved with one of her residents-it was too unprofessional. When Max had moved to a house off-campus at the end of the year, she was relieved and hopeful that she would never have to see him again.

And now, here she was, sitting on a blanket with the unwitting instrument of her humiliation. This was what she got for being such a good friend.

Furiosa hissed under her breath, “I _know_ you had a dog in there.”

Max’s voice was surprisingly soft for a man of his size. “I did. ’S complicated. Dog’s my emotional support animal, need to keep her with me, but administration doesn’t recognize support dogs. So she had to be a secret. That girl-“ He jerked a thumb in Capable’s direction, “-and her sisters hid her whenever you were gonna search my room, they’re the only ones who knew. Dag helped me get Dog. Didn’t want to lie to you, but I don’t like to talk about it, asked them to keep it a secret. That’s the truth.” With an odd huffing sound, he looked back towards the screen and fell silent.

For once, Furiosa was speechless. It also sounded so absurd, could it possibly be true? In a weird way it kind of made sense; she had experienced firsthand how inconsiderate Citadel College could be towards people with disabilities. Whenever she gave tours to prospective students, they required that she wear long sleeves and gloves to cover her prosthetic arm, so as not to ‘make visitors uncomfortable.’ She tolerated it because she needed the money, but it still infuriated her. They had also gone out of their way to prevent Toast and Angharad from founding a support group for survivors of campus sexual assault, saying that it ‘reflected poorly’ on the school. So it seemed likely that they wouldn’t let Max keep his service dog on campus, but it still seemed so far-fetched.

For a while Furiosa lost herself in the film, finding herself surprisingly enjoying the visuals and excellent female lead.

When her thoughts drifted back to the man next to her, she began to wonder how Max had managed to hide a dog from her-even if she did believe that’s what had really happened. He did live on the ground floor…and if she recalled, the screen in his window popped out easily. She had a sudden mental image of Max passing a dog out the window to Cheedo, and almost burst out laughing. Or maybe they had concealed the dog by other means, like under Dag’s voluminous floor-length skirts or in the massive purse Toast used to smuggle bags of popcorn into movie theaters. It wouldn’t have been easy to deceive her; Furiosa had a reputation for being the sharpest-eyed RA on campus. Yet if anyone were capable of tricking her, it would be the stubborn, clever Greene sisters trying to help a fellow student.

And although she was angry about being lied to, in a way she understood. No one could control the bad things that happened to them, but they did get to choose the people they shared those traumas with. She could respect Max’s decision not to tell her about his dog.

Before she knew it, the movie was over and Capable was insisting that they try the new ice cream place near campus. As they left the store, Capable asked Furiosa if she and Max would walk a little ways behind her and Nux, so they could have some ‘alone time.’ She and Max lingered near the door, watching Capable and Nux’s retreating figures.

For the first time in hours, she spoke to Max directly. “So what’s your dog’s name?”

He gave her an odd look. “It’s Dog.”

She chortled around a mouth of salted caramel ice cream. “Really? You have a dog named Dog?”

He shrugged. “Wasn’t going to call her Cat.”

“Do you have a picture of Dog?” She really did want to believe him…and if she saw a picture, then she’d know he was telling the truth.

Unexpectedly, he gave her a broad smile. “Got one right here.” Balancing his rocky road ice cream on his arm, he pulled out his phone and tapped a button, then turned the screen towards her. An adorable brown-and-white furry face filled the screen, and something inside her softened.

“She’s beautiful, Max.”

She saw that same softness in Max’s face, the peace that comes from the unconditional love of an animal.

“Would you like to meet her sometime?” He was still smiling, but she caught a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“I’d love to.” For a moment they just watched each other, trying to decide whether to let the other in. Furiosa couldn’t be sure yet but she felt like there might be a place in her life for this awkward man who loved his dog so much.

But Capable’s distant giggle reminded her why she was there, and she said, “We’d better start walking, I don’t want her to think I’ve abandoned her.”

She took off at a brisk pace, but Max kept up with her long stride.  

Up ahead, Nux whispered to Capable, “How’d I do?”

She smiled up at him. “Excellent, it was very convincing. You’re a natural at acting first-date smitten, even with someone you’ve been dating for months.”

“It’s not difficult with someone perfect like you.” With a quick glance backwards to make sure Furiosa and Max weren’t watching too closely, he kissed her cheek quickly.

Eventually they’d have to tell their friends about their plan to set them up, but for now, it was enough to enjoy the warm spring evening together.

 


End file.
